Day 0
Location: St. Joseph's High School
The hustle and bustle of the ongoing classes is deafening yet the boys and girls are spending their break time eating out of lunch boxes, running down the corridor, chatting and having fun. Some studious bunch like reading books in the silence of the library while the sporty ones like to play with their fellow mates. The bell rings signalling the end of the lunch break. The students return back to their respective classrooms.
Location: Class 12B
Our protagonist, Kenneth enters through the front door. He swiftly navigates around the swarming flock around the desk of the most popular girl to take his seat by the window. He settles down to find the seat in front of him empty. He wonders where his best friend is.
"Yo Ken!", a figure takes the empty seat.
"Yo! Where you been?", Kenneth makes a curious face.
"You won't believe what I heard!", Marcella turns her chair around to face Kenneth, preparing for a juicy gossip.
Kenneth leans forward. He is always eager to learn new secrets about his classmates.
Marcella leans in even further. She whispers, "yesterday night, John spotted Sheila leaving George's house pretty late." She leans back on her chair feeling satisfied dumping the information on Kenneth.
Kenneth has a lot of questions about it. "What was John doing there that late?"
"Shit! I had the same question.", Marcella leans forward again, "turns out, he was returning back from his part-time job.", the look of satisfaction is back on her face.
"Huh!", Kenneth smacks his lips, "that's something."
"I know right!", Marcella smirks.
"Come on students. Take your seats.", the english teacher, Miss. Olivia Clarke, enters the classroom.
Marcella quickly turns her chair around. Kenneth straightens himself. The flock dissipates. The chairs find their respective occupants. The order is restored in the class. Then Olivia continues, "today we will start a new piece of poetry from our half yearly curriculum. Open your textbooks to page 58."
Everyone starts flipping pages in chorus. Then it abruptly comes to a stop. Miss. Clarke waits patiently for her pupils. Her one hour long lesson starts thereafter.
The english lecture ends as soon as the bell rings. The students love Olivia for this reason. She is punctual and reliable and understands them well.
"I would like to end the lecture here today. Good news for you all, no assignment today. Enjoy your weekend.", Olivia tidies her table. The entire class hums in joy.
"Oh and Kenneth?", she looks up, the students start murmuring again, "I specifically said no plagiarism, right?"
Kenneth shows a hint of shock. He looks down at his desk avoiding eye contact.
Olivia sighs on receiving no response, "redo last week's essay and submit it by Friday, alright?"
Kenneth rolls his eyes.
Olivia ignores the gesture. He has always been a troublesome kid. She turns towards another pupil, "also George?", all eyes turn towards him this time, "meet me today in my office after class gets over.", Olivia instructs George. Without waiting for a reply, she strolls out.
The chatter in the classroom climbs in intensity.
Location: Miss. Clarke's office
The final bell rings and the entire campus breaks down into complete mayhem. The corridors are crowded and chaotic. The classrooms are emptying gradually. Most of the students are returning back home while some are staying behind for self-study sessions or club activities.
George finds his way to Miss. Clarke's office as she had requested earlier. He knocks on the door and makes his identity known. He had a vague idea about why he was called.
Olivia invites him in.
George walks in, closes the door behind him. "What is it this time?", he asks, uninterested.
"Come, sit.", Olivia pats the chair opposite to her, "we are here to discuss your essay.", she completely ignores his rudeness.
George takes that chair, "what about it?, he enquires.
"You have again managed to write something beautiful. I only want to go through some points with you. It won't take long.", she assures him.
Shrugging his shoulders, he turns to face her work table, picks up his essay from the top of the bundle.
And then the one-on-one lesson starts.
Location: Class 12B
Kenneth and Marcella are preparing to go for their club activities at the end of the day. They pack their bags and tidy their belongings.
"Marcie, pray tell me, why is it compulsory to join club? Like for what purpose?", he picks up his textbook and shoves it in his school bag.
"You don't even participate in club activities. What are you complaining about?", Marcella threw her hands in the air.
"This is the only club in school that will let me slack without consequences, duh! Still I would rather go home and watch TV.", Kenneth picks up his bag and follows Marcella as she leaves the classroom.
Kenneth was very frustrated with the 'one hour club activity after school' rule. He avoided all kinds of physical activity, so sports clubs were out of question. That reduced his options by a lot. He saw his best friend joining the Book Reading Club and thought about giving it a try, even if he had no interest in books whatsoever.
Location: Miss. Clarke's office
Olivia is brewing tea for both of them. Deep into the essay, they realised that they had a lot to discuss contrary to their previous belief.
"Georgie, continue reading. I am still listening.", she turns around and nods her head.
George shifts in his chair with visible discomfort, possibly at the directed affection. "Alright.", he says and turns towards his essay once more.
Once the tea is done, she brings two cups to the work table and sets them down. "I really like those snide comments and sly remarks you incorporate in your works. Not very professional writing, but it is amusing.", she forwards a cup to George.
"Thanks, but I don't drink tea.", he refuses her offer.
"It's not your tea tea. It's a special kind of tea. Come on. Try it.", she pushes his cup further towards him, "want some pie with it?", she unravels a box, from the nearest bakery.
George waits for Olivia to open the box. And inside, there is a pumpkin pie. "No, I can't.", he sighs, before Olivia could retort, he continues, "I am allergic to nuts.", he points at the various nuts sprinkled on the top of the pretty pie.
"Oh yes. I am sorry.", Olivia sips on her cup to hide her face. She regrets it the next instant, burning her tongue. "Let's continue!", she suggests, feeling more embarrassed.
George nods timidly and starts reading again.
Location: St. Joseph's High School
The students are leaving the campus gardually. They are eager to go back home. Others are engrossed in their clubs. It has almost been an hour since classes ended.
Location: Book Reading Clubroom
Kenneth is fooling around the clubroom, while Marcella and group are doing their weekly book review session. Marcella never expects Kenneth to participate. The review is running longer than usual. Kenneth is in charge of preparing tea and snacks for the group. He was the official bellboy of the club. He did not mind running errands for them as long as he got his monthly club activity completion certificate.
Location: Miss. Clarke's office
Miss. Olivia and George are almost at the end of his essay.
Olivia insists George to finish his cup of tea before it becomes an iced tea. "Do you want me to warm it up for you?", she asks.
"No.", George grabs his cup and chugs it down in huge gulps, "there!", he settles his cup down, "let's finish it up quick."
"Okay.", she points at the essay with her right pointy, "so this conclusion part, I feel you went overboard with the political propaganda."
George is shocked at the statement. He is a pro-political activist and always works hard during protests to get their agenda noticed. Thus, a violent urge rises within him to prove Miss. Clarke wrong. He takes in a deep breath and gets ready to start the one-sided debate.
It is the first time George spoke so much in this period. Miss. Olivia leans back and listens to him very carefully as he brings forward multiple reasons why the conclusion to the essay is nowhere near going overboard.
Olivia gets thirsty, or bored, or both. She gets up to pour some water for herself.
George concludes, "And that's why it's completely right to..right to..to...", he stops.
"Right to what?", Olivia turns around. She sees George mumbling something. "George? Georgie?", Olivia becomes worried. She rushes to him and holds his shoulders and shakes him. "George!", she screams.
George stammers inaudibly and his body slumps down as Miss. Olivia tries to hold him in position. She fails and panics.
George falls down to the floor, lying flat on his back, semi-conscious.
Olivia rushes to the door, opens it and screams for help at the top of her lungs.
YOU ARE READING
PIE HAS BEEN SERVED
Mystery / ThrillerIt wasn't like any other day at school, for there was going to happen something you'd never imagine! Our protagonist, a sixteen year old Kenneth Murray, a high school senior year student will discover his true potential for the first time as he solv...
